Los Gatos senior Ashley Caldwell is ranked No. 1 in the state in both the 800 meters and the mile.

LG's Caldwell tops in the state

Gatos senior has top times in 800, mile

By Dick Sparrer

To say that Ashley Caldwell has been running well over the past couple of weeks for the Los Gatos girls track team is like saying Barry Bonds is off to a pretty good start for the San Francisco Giants.

Bonds has been on fire this season, and so has Caldwell.

The Los Gatos senior is the state leader in both the 800-meter run and the mile after running to back-to-back invitational wins at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto and the Oakland Relays in Berkeley.

Caldwell raced to a win in the invitational 800 last Saturday in Berkeley with a state-leading 2:11.07. Teammate Carolyn Penner was seventh in 2:17.5.

A week earlier, Caldwell ran 4:55.6 to finish first at Stanford. Her time, tops in the state, shattered the school record of 4:57.8, set in 2000 by Heather Hennessy, and marks only the second time that a Los Gatos girl has broken the 5-minute barrier.

Caldwell also ran a school record-breaking 1,200-meter leg on the distance medley as Los Gatos set a school mark in 12:09 (old record, 12:14.4). The foursome finished second to St. Mary's of Berkeley.

Caldwell's 3:35.4 in the 1,200 is a school record, snapping the mark of 3:44.9, set earlier this year by Michelle Beritzhoff at the Indoor Nationals in New York.

Ali Dodson (59.2 in the 400), Penner (2:18.7 in the 800) and Beritzhoff (5:14 in the 1,600) rounded out the relay team.

"[Caldwell] broke three school records in a meet featuring many of the top athletes in the state," said Los Gatos coach Willie Harmatz.

"We had a serious discussion about what to do in this race, knowing that we were running against this great mile field, and she was determined to follow the plan," added Harmatz, discussing Caldwell's strategy at the Stanford meet. "It was the strong third lap that put her in position to outkick the leaders. I told her to either run a strong third lap or don't run the race."

Caldwell ran the race, and she followed the race plan closely.

"Her being in position to win it was unexpected," admitted the coach. "But her usual great kick proved to be the difference."

Los Gatos head coach Monica Townsend was also impressed with Caldwell's mile performance at Stanford.

"Ashley believed in her fitness and trusted her coach making critical moves in all the right places," said Townsend. "She passed second place coming off the final turn and put four seconds between herself and [the second place finisher]."

Sally Stanton set a new school record in the pole vault at 10-0 and "had two very good attempts at 10-6," said Townsend.

In boys competition at Stanford, Nik Kay whirled the discus 163-7 to finish third.

Kay won both weight events in back-to-back dual meets against Los Altos and Palo Alto, but the Los Gatos boys lost both decisions.

The Cats fell 109-12 to the Eagles despite Kay's wins in the discus (162-0) and shot put (46-9).

Kay took the discus (166-9) and the shot (49-2), but the Cats lost 98-28 to Paly last week. Jason Yuki ran to a win in the 2-mile in 10:47, and Jamal Modir sprinted to a first in the 100 in 11.8.

The girls, meanwhile, beat both Los Altos and Palo Alto in dual meet action in the De Anza Division.

Los Gatos topped Los Altos 66-61, even with Beritzhoff, Penner and Caldwell taking a day off to rest up for Stanford.

Erica Williams, Dodson and Kim Christiansen won two events each to lead the Cats past the Eagles.

"[Williams] had been sick for two weeks and had only run a couple of days prior to the meet," said Townsend. "I told her we were going to have her run the meet as a workout. What a workout it turned out to be."

Williams took the mile in 5:59.3, with Shannon Kehrig third, and she was first in the 2-mile in 13:00.0.

Dodson raced to a win in the 100 in 12.6 and was first in the 200 in 27.21, and Christiansen flew to a win in the long jump at 16-6 and won the triple jump at 34-4.5.

Michelle Johnson was first in the high jump at 5-2 and second in the long jump at 15-0.

Stanton won the 300 hurdles in 48.5 and was second in the 100 hurdles in 17.34.

Ashley Benson was second in the 800 in 2:38.1, with Kristie Yackle third and Williams fourth, Shea Dailor was second in the discus at 78-0, and Carolyn Stege was second in the 400 in 63.8.

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